Tuesday, January 07, 2014

Joseph (part 4) When You're Forgotten

Through this series we've seen Joseph in his dysfunctional
family. We have seen Joseph in the pit
of betrayal. And we have seen Joseph
dealing with temptation which ended by seeing him thrown into a prison for a
crime he did not commit. As Joseph spends
time in that prison we learn through his example what we should do when we feel
like we've been forgotten. What do you
do in those times in your life when you feel like maybe even God has forgotten
you?

My guess is that Joseph may have felt like he had been
forgotten by everyone, even God. He finds
himself in prison for a crime he never committed. By this time his brothers had completely
forgotten him. To his beloved father, he
was just a distant memory. Chances are
very good that even as Joseph sat in this Egyptian dungeon that he must have
faced the temptation of giving in to the feeling that maybe, just maybe, even
God had forgotten him.

Most of us have had a time in our lives when we felt like
even God forgot us. How do you respond
during those times that you're in the prison?
How do you respond during those times when it feels like even God has
forgotten you? I want to give you three
ways. We're going to call them laws
because each one will begin with a letter that spells out the word
"law."

L = LEAN ON GOD’S PRESENCE

The first law begins with the letter "L." When you feel like you've been forgotten,
what do you do? Number one, you lean on
God's presence. Notice two things. First of all there's a fact involved as seen
in Genesis 39:20 which says,

“So Joseph's master (that's Potiphar) took him and put him into the
jail, the place where the king's prisoners were confined. And he was there in jail.”

Remember what has happened to Joseph. This journey for Joseph to the jail has been
a journey of great hurt. His brothers
took him, assaulted him, ripped off his coat of many colors and they threw him
into a pit. He ends up sold into slavery
into a land hundreds of miles away, a foreign country where he didn't know the
culture, didn't know the language, and didn't know the people. His father has been convinced through the
lies of his brother that he's dead.
There in Egypt he becomes a slave in the house of Potiphar. He does very well as a slave but then he gets
falsely accused by Potiphar's wife and now he lands in an Egyptian jail.

Don't think of Egyptian jails like modern-day prisons. Later on in chapter 40, when Joseph recounts
what happened to him, he will call it a dungeon. It is dark, dreary, ugly, horrible place to
exist and that's where Joseph finds himself.
However, verse 21 presents a contrast to that. It begins with the word "but." In
contrast to all of that history, in contrast to all of those misfortunes, in
contrast to his mistreatment, in contrast to him being in jail for a crime he
never committed,

“The Lord was with Joseph.”

I have to believe that Joseph's feelings were contrary to
that. My guess is that as Joseph sat in
jail day after day rehearsing the events of the last several years, rehearsing
his brother's betrayal, the time in the pit, his time in Potiphar's house, his
being falsely accused, my guess is that Joseph felt like God had forgotten
him.

Folks, listen, when you go through the lowest times of your
life and it feels like you've been forgotten, and it feels like even God has
forgotten you, it is there that you reach a fork in the road where you have to
make a decision. Are you going to lean
on your feelings that tell you God has forgotten you or are you going to lean
on the fact of the Word of God in which Jesus said,

“I will never leave you nor forsake you?”

If you lean on your feelings, you're going to be in
trouble. If you lean on the fact of the
Word of God in spite of what your feelings say, there's hope even in the prison
of life. That's why Proverbs 3:5-6 says that
we need to,

“Trust in the Lord with all our heart and not lean on our own
understanding.”

Don't lean on your feelings.
Your feelings are deceiving. When
your feelings tell you that God has forgotten you, your feelings have deceived
you. When your feelings tell you that
God has forsaken you, your feelings have deceived you. One of the most critical things that you can
do when you're in the prison of your life is to remember that you cannot lean
on your feelings. They will deceive
you. You must lean on the fact of the
Word of God.

Yes, Joseph was mistreated.
Yes, he was falsely accused. Yes,
he was in a horrible situation. But no,
God had not forgotten him. And verse 21
is very clear. The Lord was with Joseph
even in prison. In fact, in verse 23 it
repeats it. The Lord was with him even
in prison. And when you as a follower of
Jesus Christ face the lowest times of your life, the same is true for you. The Lord is with you. “I will never leave you,” Jesus said. “I will never forsake you.” Even in the worst and most unfair of
circumstances, we must lean on the fact that God has not abandoned us.

And that's what Joseph has to do as he sits in prison day
after day. As his feelings cry out to
him, saying “God has forgotten you,” Joseph must lean on the fact of the truth
of the Word of God and the character of God and know that God has not forgotten
him. Not only is God with Joseph, but
God is at work behind the scenes. He
always is. And the end of verse 21 says
this,

“But the Lord was with Joseph in prison and extended kindness to him
and gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer. And the chief jailer committed to Joseph's
charge all the prisoners who were in the jail.
So that whatever was done there he was responsible for it.”

Joseph found grace in the eyes of the chief jailer. Not only was God with Joseph in the lowest
time of his life, but God was working in the situation. We learned earlier that even when you find
yourself in the pit of betrayal God has a purpose. And He has a purpose for Joseph in prison as
well. The chief jailer sees that the
Lord is with Joseph, much like Potiphar had, and the chief jailer puts all of
the prison under Joseph's control. He's
now responsible for all of the prisoners in the dungeon. He is now the manager.

There was a purpose for Joseph being sold into slavery. There was a purpose for Joseph being in the
prison. It was while he was serving
Potiphar and those years in the prison that Joseph learned all of those
management skills, those leadership skills that would be necessary for him to
know when he became the second in command in all of Egypt and is able to save
all of Egypt and the surrounding areas from starvation due to a famine. Even though Joseph feels forgotten, even
though Joseph is in a horrible position, God has a purpose in Joseph's
life. And God is working behind the
scenes.

Folks, listen. You
will never go through a trial, you will never go through a hurt, you will never
go through a heartache, you will never go through pain in which God does not
have a purpose and isn't at work in your life.
You never go through hurt for no reason.
God doesn’t waste anything. Joseph wasn't sold into slavery for
nothing. He wasn't put in the prison for
nothing. He is learning valuable
lessons.

David, much like Joseph, often found himself in a place
where he felt forgotten but in Psalm 119:11 David realizes something. He comes to a conclusion. It's an amazing verse. It goes in contrast to a lot of the teaching
you will hear today that says God never wants you to hurt. God never wants affliction in your life. Just have enough faith and there will be no
affliction. Psalm 119:11 says just the
opposite:

“It is good for me that I was afflicted.”

Imagine that. It was
good for David that he went through this time of affliction. It was good for Joseph that he found himself
in the pit of betrayal. It was good for
Joseph that he spent years in the prison.
And notice the reason why. David
said, it's good for me that I was afflicted.
Why?

“That I may learn your statutes.”

Do you realize, my friend, that you learn more about God
during the low times of your life than you ever learn during the high
times? It's during the low times of your
life, during the times in the pit and the times in the prison, that you really lean
into the presence of God and you learn some of the greatest truths you'll ever
learn about God.

My Grandpa Distler was a pastor for over 50 years. I remember just before he died of cancer
being able to go out to California to spend some final time with him. I’ll never forget those final conversations I
had with him while sitting by his bed.
His body was riddled with cancer and he wanted me to have some sense of
what he was experiencing. He took my
hand and he placed it underneath his pajama top and he led my hand from tumor
to tumor. I remember saying to him, “Grandpa,
do they hurt?” He said, “Oh, they hurt.”

Then he said something I will never forget. He said, “Scott, for over 50 years I've
preached Proverbs 3:5-6,” and then he quoted it, “Trust in the Lord with all of
your heart, do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will
direct your paths.” He went on to say, “For
over 50 years I have preached that passage but for the first time in my life I
really understand what it means.”

It's when you go through the difficult times of life, it's
when you go through the adversity, it's when you go through the affliction,
it's when you go through the heart ache, it's when you go through the pain,
that you learn more about God than you ever dreamed possible. David said, “It's good for me that I was
afflicted.” Joseph would be able to
ultimately say, “It was good for me that I was in the pit and in the prison.” At the end of the story he'll say, “Though
man meant it for evil, God used it for good.”

What's the first thing you need to do when you feel like God
has forgotten you? You need to refuse to
follow your feelings and instead lean on the fact of the Word of God and lean
on the presence of God in your life even when you find yourself in the pit or
in the prison. That's law number one.

A = ASSIST OTHERS IN NEED

Law number two to remember when I feel like God's forgotten
me is that I need to assist others in need.
First, there is a need to be SELFLESS.
As Joseph is in prison in charge of all the prisoners, two of Pharaoh's
key staff members, the cupbearer and the baker, do something to make the king
furious. The cupbearer's job was to
taste all of the food and drink before it was given to Pharaoh. He would do this for two reasons. Number one, he would do this to make sure
nothing was poisoned. If the cupbearer
fell over dead, the king didn't eat. The
second reason was to make sure that the food was quality. If the food didn't taste good, it wouldn't go
to the king. That was the job of the
cupbearer. As a result, the cupbearer was
one of the closest servants to Pharaoh.
He had the king’s ear because kings ate all the time. The cupbearer was always in his
presence.

Then there's the baker.
The baker's the one who prepares the food. He prepares the food and the cupbearer tastes
the food. These two guys did something
that makes Pharaoh furious. We don't
know what it is but I think we can safely assume it had something to do with
food because their jobs are connected in that way. The result is that Pharaoh throws them both
in to jail. God is working behind the
scenes seen in the fact that it is Joseph who is the one who cares for the
cupbearer and the baker.

Think about that.
Here's Joseph in prison for a crime he didn't commit. The last several years of his life have been
nothing but mistreatment and misfortune.
And what's he doing in the prison?
He is serving other people. His
focus is on the other prisoners. We
usually do just the opposite. When we
get in situations where we feel like we have been forgotten, when we feel like
God's forgotten us, we put the focus right back on ourselves and we wallow in
our own self-pity. Joseph, realizing
that God's presence is with him and realizing that there's a purpose in his
pain, puts all of his energies into serving the other prisoners and God brings
two very particular people under Joseph's care.

If you grasp this principle it can really be exciting. When you go through the lowest times of your
life, when you go through the hurt and the pain and the heartache that comes at
times with life, when you get in those situations where you feel like God's
forgotten you, God will cause you to rub shoulders with people who you would
never have met had you not been in that situation. If Joseph not been in prison would he have
met the cupbearer and the baker?
Probably not. God was doing
something big.

I remember when I went through one of the prison times of my
life and for a six-month period found myself out of local church ministry. For those six months I worked in an insurance
office. No offense to you insurance
agents but that was like a death sentence for me. God's calling on my life was to preach but I
found myself instead sitting in an insurance office. Looking back, I am so thankful for that time as
it was while I was there that God allowed me rub shoulders with people I never
would have met had I not gone through this hurtful time in my own life.

One person in particular that I met had a deep spiritual
issue in their life and over the six months that I worked there I was able to
work with this person and counsel them which resulted in an incredible victory to
take place. When I left the insurance
office to go back into ministry, I remember getting an e-mail from this person
that basically said, “I know what you went through was very hurtful but I'm so
thankful that you went through it. Had you
not gone through that time of hurt you never would have ended up at the
insurance office where you had a ministry in my life.”

I think we often miss some of the most incredible
opportunities to minister in the lowest times of our life because we're
wallowing in self-pity instead of realizing that in that situation God is allowing
us the opportunity to rub shoulders with somebody who we never would have met
otherwise. That's what happens in
Joseph's life.

Along with the need to be selfless there is also the need to
be SENSITIVE. The baker and the
cupbearer have a dream and it troubles them.
In the Old Testament God often spoke through dreams. The Bible wasn't completely written yet. I personally don't believe that God speaks
much through dreams today. I'm not
saying it's impossible but I don't think that's the way God speaks today. I think the way God speaks today is through
his Word but back in that day the Word wasn't completed and dreams were often
an avenue in which God spoke. The baker
and the cupbearer have a dream and it troubles them. In Genesis 40:6 it says.

“When Joseph came to them in the morning and observed them, behold they
were dejected. He asked Pharaoh's
officials who were with him in confinement in his master's house why are your
faces so sad today?”

Where's Joseph at?
He's in prison. Why's he
there? He’s been falsely accused. What's the last few years of his life been
like? They’ve been horrible. And what does he notice in prison about these
two other guys? He notices that their
faces look sad. Most men don't even notice
when their wife gets a haircut. He
notices that their faces look sad.
That's mind boggling to me. I
have to think that in that Egyptian dungeon most prisoners' faces looked pretty
sad. But on this day, the baker and the
cupbearer's face look even sadder than normal and Joseph notices it. Even in the lowest time of his life, because
he's leaning on the presence of God and realizes God has a purpose, he is
sensitive to the needs of people around him.
When you're in the lowest times of your life, one of the best ways to
start every day is to say, “God, today, make me sensitive to the needs of
people around me.”

Finally, there is also the need to be SERVING. In verse number 5, the cupbearer and baker have
a dream that trouble them. In verse
number 6 Joseph notices that their faces look sad. In verse 8 they say to Joseph,

“We have had a dream and there's no one to interpret it. And Joseph said to them, do not
interpretations belong to God? Tell it
to me, please.”

I'm amazed that Joseph is in any way open to the “dream
thing.” Remember when he had a dream
issue earlier in his life what happened?
He ended up in a pit of betrayal.
But he's open to how God's going to use him and he's willing to serve
these guys in prison. Even in the
situation he's in, even after all he's gone through he's willing to serve these
guys. So he says, “Tell me the dream.”

WAIT ON GOD’S TIMING

Law number one says that we must lean on the presence of God,
even if our feelings tell us that God has forgotten us. Law number two says that instead of wallowing
in self-pity, we need to assist others in need. Law number three states that we must wait on
God's timing.

The cupbearer dreams about a vine and the vine has three
branches. The branches bud and then
blossom. They then produce wonderful clusters of grapes and the cupbearer in
the dream takes the grapes, squeezes them into Pharaoh's cup, and takes the cup
to Pharaoh. Joseph interprets the
dream. He says the three branches on the
vine are three days. In three days,
Pharaoh is going to restore the cupbearer to his position as cupbearer. Joseph
interprets the dream of the cupbearer and in verse 14 he asks the cupbearer for
just one favor:

“Only keep me in mind when it goes well with you and please do me a
kindness by mentioning me to Pharaoh and get me out of this place.”

Joseph is putting a plan together in his mind. He sees a way for God to get him out of the jail. The cupbearer has the ear of Pharaoh and
Pharaoh is the only guy who can pardon Joseph.
He has it all planned out what God should do. We're going to get the cupbearer back in
place and the cupbearer's going to tell the king about me and my unfortunate
story. Pharaoh's going to have pity on
me. He's going to pardon me and I'm
going to get out of this dungeon. You
see, Joseph at this point sees a glimmer of hope. Joseph sees this as his opportunity. In his mind, this is God orchestrating the
events to get him out of prison.

The baker also has a dream.
The baker notices that the interpretation that was given to the
cupbearer was very positive so he too tells Joseph his dream. In his dream he
saw three baskets of bread on his head. If
the three branches in the cupbearer's dream represented three days, what do you
think the three baskets represent in the baker's dream? In the top basket there were all sorts of
baked food for Pharaoh. And the birds
were eating them out of the basket. He
then asks Joseph to tell him the interpretation hoping for the same favorable
outcome as the cupbearer’s dream produced.

Joseph gives the interpretation. The three baskets are three days. Just like in three days the cupbearer would be
restored to his position, in three days Pharaoh would hang the baker and the
birds would eat his flesh. I appreciate
Joseph’s integrity. He was honest. If I had been Joseph, I may have said
something like, “You know, I'm kind of tired right now. I'll tell you the interpretation later. It's just not coming through right now. We'll get to it later.” But Joseph speaks the truth to him even
though the truth wasn't a fun thing to hear.

Three days later it's Pharaoh's birthday and he throws a
great feast. Just like Joseph said, the
cupbearer is restored to his position while the baker is hanged. When they restore him to his position, Joseph
is elated. He's thrilled. He's excited because in his mind the
cupbearer's going to go in to the king and say, “I need to tell you about a guy
in prison. I need to tell you his story.” The result in Joseph’s mind would be that the
king would respond by saying, “What an unfortunate person,” and then pardon Joseph. But Joseph’s elation turns to despair. Genesis 40:23 says,

“Yet, the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph but forgot him.”

Joseph has been in prison for a while. He finally sees a way out. He believes that God is orchestrating it
through the cupbearer, but in the end, the cupbearer totally forgets about
Joseph. In fact, Joseph will remain in
prison for two more agonizing years. For
the next two years, every single day Joseph will continue to wake up in his
cell never ever seeing the light of day.
I wonder how often in those two years Joseph questioned God. Joseph had it all planned out. The cupbearer would go in and tell the king
who would release Joseph. It seemed so
simple. Why didn't God allow it to
happen? Why does Joseph have to spend two
more years in prison? There's a law I
want to share with you. I call it the
law of timing. And here's what the law
of timing says.

“God's timing may not always be our timing but it's always the best
timing.”

If Joseph would have gotten his way, Joseph would have been
pardoned. But what would have happened
to Joseph? He was still Potiphar's
property. He probably would have went
right back into slavery. Let me ask you
a question. What's better, to get out of
prison two years earlier and go back into slavery or to be in prison two more
years and end up second in command in Egypt and have the opportunity to save
thousands upon thousands of people from death and become an example of the
power of forgiveness? Which was
better? Pretty obvious, isn't it?

When Joseph's forgotten in the prison, when the cupbearer
doesn't say a word, Joseph's probably thinking, “God, where are you? Why didn't you come through?” But what Joseph didn't realize at that time
is that God was still working. And if
Joseph would wait on God for two more years, something far better would take
place.

When Jesus walked on earth He had a very good friend that
lived in Bethany named Lazarus. Lazarus
had two sisters, Mary and Martha. One
day Lazarus got so sick that he was about to die and Mary and Martha had it all
planned out. They would call for Jesus
and He would come and heal Lazarus.

So they call for Jesus but He purposefully waits to come. Why does He wait? He does so because God's timing isn't always
our timing but it's always the best timing.
He doesn't show up until Lazarus has been dead and buried four
days. When He shows up Lazarus' sister
says to Him, “if You had been here our brother would not have died!” What was she saying? “You blew it.
You're late. It was all planned
out, Jesus. All you had to do was show
up. You didn't come.” In the minds of Mary and Martha, God was
late. But God's timing isn't always our
timing but it's always the best timing. Jesus
was about to do something far more incredible than healing Lazarus before he
died. He raises the old boy from the
dead.

Maybe you are wondering if God will ever show up in the hurt
of your life. Based on the examples in
the Word of God, I can assure you that God's timing may not always be your
timing but it's always the best timing.
I love the verse in Ecclesiastes 3 that says,

“He makes all things beautiful in His time.”

What do you do when you feel forgotten? Number one, you lean on God's presence. Number two, you assist others in need. Number three, you wait on God's timing. It may not always be your timing but will
always be the best timing.

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Author:

I am a graduate of Liberty University where I received my Bachelors and Masters Degrees. I have been a full-time pastor since 1987, pastoring churches in Ohio, Indiana and Pennsylvania. I currently am the Lead Pastor at the E-Free Free Church in Gaylord, Michigan. My passion is to see people come to faith in Christ through the ministry of the local church.